good old days...mindanao's funnest!

kokak: my #2, #4 and #5 GESM page favorites [a repost from july 18, 2010]

it's not everyday that i get to think and re-think about my favorite blog entries in my one of my favorite blogsites. as i confessed months ago, i'm an avid reader of the candid-candy-slot-machine-type of page orman manansala has. not only because he's from gensan too but also because it fills my wishing-to-be-that-brutally-frank-not-minding-it's-published urges. last week, i came up with my top5 favorites, in time for his contest about such...but i was kinda having second-thoughts of joining, hence, it's 'piled' as draft. i figured i could just rewrite it (with no contest in mind) anytime soon.

rewriting (for the nth time) i'm now ready to tell him and the world [all of my lucky-19 registered blog-readers, my thousands (evilsmirk) of page viewers, hundreds of fans and who-knows-how-many friends (whew!)] my favorites (my 3 of the many).

#2 SILWAY IN MY MIND @  http://gandaeversomuch.com/2009/08/what-ever/silway-in-my-mind/ .
i so love the simplicity of this entry, reminds me a lot of how i feel everytime i think of that old street in my mother's hometown (somewhere in leyte). it's the knowing that once in your life, you have been a child of that street and the memories of the street in your mind keeps on haunting you everytime you see changes through the years. it seems like you can still feel the dust in your feet, can still feel that old familiar breeze and hear the once-loud chimes of a dear old church...

#4 MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE @ http://gandaeversomuch.com/2009/11/lungkot-ever/maguindanao-massacre/ . this is an entry with a negative material (figuratively). even as i am in manila, i felt the pain that my friends and people of the whole of soccsksargen  and the world felt hearing/reading this tragic news. my plurk timeline was filled then with expressions of sympathies and anger and pain... i kept myself abreast with everything about the incident and prayed prayed prayed. this page, is not one of my favorites because it was an instrument of shock but because it reminded me how life is fleeting and how it can be cruel at one time.

#5 LESSON IN HUMILITY @ http://gandaeversomuch.com/2010/01/serious-ever/a-great-lesson-in-humility/. as with my #1 and #3 (please don't ask me about this- *giving an evil-grin*), this page showed the human side of orman, and i love it so much when i read a page that's unafraid and ever-willing to let go of human emotions (what are blogs for?), one to share the deepest pains (joys too) and one with lessons to teach. one to remind me that i may not live long enough to make all the mistakes in the world (if lessons are to be learned from my mistakes alone).


so there. that's that. and that's why.

P.S.---thank you orman. keep writing. keep sharing. keep living (you know- say it the way pacman does). [ooops, pictures we're stolen from the webpage http://www.gandaeversomuch.com/ --- hope you don't mind. (cozy) thanks!]

start your september right - save lives

pyesta at piYESta KTV - my stop in Sox Summer Safari

after the hustle and bustle of the election fever (that chapter of my life when i decided to serve the country for a week sundown til midnight to recount votes as a guilt-gift because i was not able to vote),  i decided to take a short break from school. but it wasn't a break at all...even before i went to the airport, i had a list of invits, nyay! oh well, life is short so i did my best to squeeze in time for those invits, in-between house-chores, bonding with my boys, preps for my paper when i get back to school and some lazy time watching (envying) wowa swim in a pro-pool (i feel like wonderwoman!).

one of those invits is the GRAND EYEBALL of mindanao bloggers at piYESta KTV (end of may 2010). the eyeball was just one stop of the Sox Summer Safari organized by gensan's pride-the manansala duo. 1. that was the first time that i attended an 'eye-ball' and met bloggers / plurkers of davao and cagayan de oro. 2. that was the first time that i visited pyesta ktv (gensan certainly changes so fast) 3. that was the first time i ate lechon (courtesy of then mayor now congressman engr. jun acharon)  without 'pyoooking' (jejeje).

that night was fun-filled - chatters, laughters plus slurps and munch munch of more than 30 people (age ranging 14 to 54?) in a cozy room (thanks donna dear, the syringe shots made me look like a yahoo messenger smiley!). that one night is one i surely won't forget. thanks to kuya avel (http://www.gensantos.com/) for always including me as part of the sox bloggers family and orman (http://www.gandaeversomuch.com/) too.

for pixs and summary of the entire tour (say, for moments of wanting to feel envious coz i didn't have the chance to join), i just visit the pages of sox bloggers, and here's one of them---
www.etcetera3x.blogspot.com/2010/mfat-mindanao-food-food-appreciation-tour.html

now i'm back to my usual to-the-neck writing schedule for school... i keep the memories of my short break in my mind for moments i need them- for whatever reason/purpose it may serve. whew!

of atty. adel tamano, and of hurried (somehow-bad) writing

what could be more delightful to a blogger but to have a subject that's open, vulnerable and yummy (read: clean and handsome)? that was my feeling when i got invited/adopted by the gensan bloggers, one saturday evening (thanks to kuya-ng-gensan-avel and ganda-ever-so-much-boss-banker orman) to join them in meeting atty. adel tamano---i was del-ighted! adel, as he is fondly called by many is vying for senator in 2010's circus-of-an-election. i am not a block-voter, i have never been... and guess what, i have him in my to-vote list for 3 reasons:

1. he is qualified to be one of the leaders of the land (being a realist-academician, a lawyer, an economist, a good public speaker and a writer)
2. he is a son to one of the few good senators of our times, and a hands-on-slash-cool-father (to 2 cute kids)
3. he is a true-blue muslim ( i am a true-blue catholic but i have grown to understand, respect and love islam since i transferred to mindanao state university, you will too-trust me on this).

while waiting for him, i am stating and  restating in my mind the questions i intend to ask him. (i have in my list at least 3 questions:)

1. how much (in your heart) do you want to serve the philippines/filipino people?
2. what are your (target) priorities given the chance to serve the country as a senator?
3. are you proud to be a muslim, how do you deal with non-muslim colleagues?

i was able to ask these questions (other bloggers too) and got satisfactory answers (thanks heavens)--- i was afraid i might end up loosing faith (happens all the time lately).

1. he first remarked he didn't want the position too much to do dirty tricks/gimmiks but he later admitted he wanted it just as much as he believes in a dream/vision of a better land (still)
2. his target priorities (to my joy) are the youth and the education sector. he is quite confident he'd be able to put his funds into good use by prioritizing scholarships and retoning skills of the stakeholders in the said sector. he however confessed that he might not do as well if he will be given a cabinet position in such sector 'coz of its wide and deeply-rooted issues, problems and concerns. (it's human to be afraid)
3. he is proud to be a muslim and he understands what muslim youth have been feeling when joined with the christian majority. he learned to blend, respect and have harmonious relationships with non-muslim colleagues nevertheless (somehow,even moros couldn't tell that he is one of them---but he is, with all his mind, heart and soul)

these and other questions were answered in both serious and funny manner (he might consider being a stand-up comedian too). adel surely knows how to charm people (his 'artistahin' looks is both a blessing and a curse) as much as he knows how to make them listen when he is seriously stating a point. after about two hours (yes! 2 hours and we didn't even notice!), the meeting ended in a very light mood (some even went to KTV with him- missed it, i know he sings well, heard he is 'kundirana baby').

oh well, this entry is (long-)overdue, as usual... and yes, is in need of some polishing (i can now imagine my journalism-mentor-now-friend-gilbert tan wondering if i ever learned anything from my writing classes (too few, sad but true)--- but what the heck! i made it. congratulations for making it to this almost-last-line too (hopefully, you are still okay). finally, i learned 3 good lessons from the experience:

1. adel isn't just a pretty face- he is young, he has a vision, he wants to serve and he is getting my vote (yes, i didn't change my mind...now, if only i could save enough for my fare come 05/10)
2. one shouldn't underestimate the power of youth-vote, the z-generation even if they don't vote, they influence others (especially those who are so-oh-visible online) hence, they must be well-equipped with information and guided opinions every now and then
3. my words in parenthesis are my favorites (coz unlike others who consider them negligible, mine is done for emphasis--- why? style lang! :) )


[postscript: thanks to arnel joshua lim and orman manansala through ms. jinky for the pictures]